During his meeting with the populations of Woleu-Ntem, Prime Minister Raymond Ndong-Sima cited a study he had commissioned while he was director of Hevegab, that according to him demonstrated that rubber trees where not the detrimental to other crops when they were planted side by side. We have obtained that study and the results are devastating for Raymond Ndong-Sima's credibility. In fact, his own study totally contradicts what he told the populations. In fact, as you can see below, his study concluded the following:

"Studies conducted have confirmed the existence of competition between rubber and associated crops. Thus the crown development of rubber gradually reduces the amount of incident radiation, resulting in lower yield for the associated crop. Pueraria competes with the growth of rubber due to its high water consumption. With cassava, the competition has more to do with mineral elements."

English version Dear readers, we have received a copy of a letter addressed to Ali Bongo, from a group of Gabonese living in Libreville. This group of Gabonese is very concerned about having to live near high voltage power lines that are going to be brought in their neighbourhoods. In developed countries, high voltage power line are kept away from highly populated areas, but in Gabon it seems that the Bongo regime would bring such lines in urban centers. A very famous study from British researchers has demonstrated the high incidence of childhood leukaemia near high-power transmission lines due to exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF). This blog will publish a post about this topic in a few days. For the time being, we are publishing the letter of these concerned citizens. The letter is in French.

English version The population of Haut-Ntem (minvoul) has issued a memorandum to the Gabonese authorities, reaffirming their unequivocal refusal to see their land stolen by Olam and converted into a giant rubber plantation. This memorandum is in French. It would take us some time to translate it in English so those of you who would like an English version, please contact us via email and we will send one to you as soon as possible.

English version The Olam project of converting 50000 ha of prime forest into a massive rubber plantation, in the north of Gabon, is more and more unpopular every day. Realizing that their loosing this battle, the two partners, Olam and the Gabonese government are now sending people they believe to be influential members of government who are from Woleu-Ntem province, into the region to try to convince the populations to back this insane project. After Emmanuel Ondo-Methogo, a counsellor to Ali Bongo, attempted to persuade the populations into accepting Olam’s project, last week the Prime Minister Raymond Ndong-Sima met with some populations from Minvoul, the area where Olam would like to establish a massive rubber plantation; in Oyem the capital city of Wolen-Ntem province. From the information this blog has received from people who were present at the meeting, Raymond Ndong-Sima failed to persuade many people that this project was a good thing for them. We are not very surprised becaus…

English version In his last weekly briefing, Alain Claude Bilié Bi Nze the spokesperson of the Gabonese presidency declared that “there was no crisis in Gabon”. He should make sure to tell the same thing to his friends from the PDG, because it seems that for a political party in power for 45 years, they certainly are showing signs that they are afraid of something. But since there is no crisis in Gabon, the PDG should not be afraid of anything; they should be very confident that everything is under control, that everything is going well in the country. 1. Raymond Ndong-Sima thinks that there are crises in the country, but Bilié Bi Nze says there are no crises On 10 July 2012, the Prime Minister Raymond Ndong-Sima called for a national consultation. At the time, he said the reasons for such a call were: "a) to diagnose the political, economic, social and democratic governance of our country; b) to ensure the adaptation of the state to the economic and social context in light of the g…

The spokesperson of the Gabonese presidency, the man we like to call the little catechist of "emergence", Alain-Claude Bilié-Bi-Nze, during his weekly press briefing, declared the following: "Gabon is a not a country in crisis, Gabon knows no social crisis, no political crisis, no institutional crisis. A national conference is not justified" This statement was in response to document from the Gabonese opposition, asking for a sovereign national conference that would reexamine the power structure in the country, its institutions and also prepare the new presidential election. However, this response by Bilié-Bi-Nze shows that while the regime is belatedly trying to deliver a message of stability and confidence, it can no longer, without choosing to appear ridiculous, deny the chronic absence of freedom and independent institutions in Gabon. Bilié-Bi-Nze and his bosses have clearly failed and will continue to fail, to convince the average Gabonese person …

In Gabon, the Singaporean agribusiness company, Olam, has a joint venture with the Gabonese government to convert more that 50000 ha of primary forest into rubber plantations. Several Gabonese citizens of good will and ecologists are raising question about the wisdom of such a project, considering everything that is already known about the negative impact rubber plantations have on the land and the environment in general. However, Olam and the Gabonese government have commissioned a study that has concluded that their project would only be beneficial to the population, both economically and environmentally. This blog has previously expressed its skepticism toward the Olam's study and we have relied on published scientific studies that demonstrate that rubber plantations are indeed detrimental to the environment. As you can see below, we are presenting a study done in the Ivory Coast, and published in Acta Zoologica in 1995. This is a longitudinal study of the richne…